


The Pearl of the Soul of the World

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst has issues, Angst, Connie's Mom is reconsidering her career, F/F, F/M, Garnet needs a shrink like everybody else, M/M, Multi, Steven is clueless, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension, identity crisis, pearl ain't perfect, will Connie ever watch the mid season finale of under the knife
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 07:35:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3928381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sees the myriad of paths the future can take. She can see all possible outcomes. The Crystal Gems rely on her to guide them into the future. It's been that way for six thousand years. </p><p>Yet history is another story. Garnet's been around a long time. But Pearl's been here even longer...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pearl of the Soul of the World

**Author's Note:**

> I've been on the fence whether to post this or not given "Love Letters" because as you can tell this is like a mega space opera of Pearlnet and so this is probably going to veer into non-canon compliment 'verse soon. However as of writing this the show is on 2015 hiatus so I might as well have fun while I can.

It’s been a long time since we talked. I don't who we're talking too. Is it me, Ruby, speaking to Sapphire? Or is it Sapphire talking to Ruby? Or is it that third part of us that only appears when we fuse?

Garnet.

I'm Garnet.

We defeated the Homeworld Gems. To say the last few days haven't been easy is an understatement. We had to watch Steven try "breaking up" with Connie. Thankfully nothing came of it. I still hated seeing him try to end their friendship. Letting someone you love down for their own good. It reminded me of...

I clench my hand and slam it at the bejeweled star to my room. Its Homeworld metal reinforced with purified properties. Not so much as a dent is there. No one's home but me. I haven’t seen the others all day. Steven and Amethyst left a note saying they’d gone to the Big Donut with Sadie, Greg, Connie, and Lyon. When the others are out I tend to hit things. It helps me "blow off stream" Ruby builds up and Sapphire forces her to suppress. Except it does nothing for the fury I, Garnet, have built. Six thousand years laboring to suppress my rage.

I know the others expect me to be bigger than this. I let them believe it. They have to believe in me because Rose is gone now. I have to be the leader. I need to be the pillar.

I...

In recent times, I forget how often I'm not an "I." I'm a "we." I'm Sapphire and Ruby. Once, that was how everyone I knew saw me. The sum of Ruby and Sapphire.  


Gem culture teaches its children that fusion is a technique. It is no more difficult than dancing. Partners' minds and memories meld into one. A single heart shared. There must be no conflict between either Gems or the fusion breaks. As individuals how can any of us achieve everlasting synchronization with another person? It's impossible. Yet somehow Ruby and Sapphire found a way.

You almost never find two Gems fused when there's no need for it. In my early days Garnet only appeared for battle. My sole purpose was to inflict as much violence and devastation as I could. As time passed I lingered. No one had noticed Ruby and Sapphire missing. I was not two weak Gems but a single person. Powerful, respected, and even a little feared. None of which either of the two had experienced before. At first no one noticed them missing. Except one person. My supreme commander.

"I’ve noticed Ruby and Sapphire have been gone for some time now. I’m not going to pretend I don’t know what’s going on. Your combined strength on the battlefield is commendable. The fact you can stay focused and fused for so long is admirable. What you’ve accomplished is a miracle. But why do this? The longer you stay fused the more at…risk you are. Neither of you needs to sacrifice yourselves for our cause."

That was the first time I met Rose Quartz. Our introduction came to a halt when an intelligence officer interrupted us. While distracted I gave Rose the slip. My mind mulled over her words. Yet defusing was not a desired action. When Ruby and Sapphire separate a part of them breaks. Sapphire had been used as a tool her entire life. She was prized for her singing and beauty but nothing else. No one bothered to see the value she had as a person. As for Ruby, she had been more ill-regarded than Amethyst amongst our peers. Too temperamental and overly emotional for the station they bred her for. When they joined it meant they knew they were wanted. They shared one another's pain and loneliness. As for me, I can't exist without them. I am more than dead. I am non-existent. I live when Sapphire and Ruby fuse. There is no greater joy than being alive. And when they fused on Peridot's ship we'd never been so happy.

Unfortunately joy died the night of the jailbreak. I watched as Malachite tried to defuse before us. The more Jasper struggled for her freedom the tighter Lapis held. And that's the part that boggles my mind. In fusions all parties must consent. The littlest disagreement will break the synchronization which forms the basis of the fusion. But Lapis Lazuli’s own will was too strong for Jasper to throw off. It made me realize something about myself. Something I should have seen sooner.

You'd think I'd have all the answers, right? Someone who channels all existing energy of the collective material universe and can see the inevitable outcome of predetermined forces should have all the answers? Only I don't. The futures I foresee only raise more questions. But this! The outcome was inevitable. Rose knew something like this could happen. She feared it. Yet same as always I behaved like I knew best. I raced headlong into the unknown. Now I'm looking back. But it's too late.

It never dawned on me if the desire to stay fused is strong enough a fusion can’t break. And that’s my problem right there. Ruby and Sapphire can't survive without the other now. Their desire to be together eclipses all else. Without Sapphire, Ruby is an emotional wreck. She didn't care about anything but finding Sapphire. And Sapphire... She spent her imprisonment singing and pining for Ruby. Out of the two she may be the most grounded but she won't fight without Ruby. She feels all but useless without Ruby's burning passions. In turn Ruby is wildfire without Sapphire's temperance to calm her.

I need both to live. Where both their hearts join is me. My indomitable spirit comes from the absolute faith the two have in each other. That faith is soothing and awe-inspiring. It's that love that fuels my strength. That's what makes me a steady force. The middle ground between them is the earth from which I grow. That's what makes me. I once thought it was beautiful. Yet after seeing how Malachite could exist with both halves in disharmony I question my own. So much of their individuality disappears during a fusion. Sapphire’s elegance gives way to Ruby’s sense of style. Her patience can be overridden by Ruby’s fury when I am at my most distress. Ruby’s determination to prevail is what allows the Crystal Gems to succeed falters at Sapphire’s insecurities. I rely too much on future visions to guide my friends, not unlike our co-dependence. Most times I can’t tell where one ends and another begins. That part is me. Was Rose right? Were two sacrificed so I could live? 

I need a break. Steven's room is too small. I walk outside. I push open the door with more force than I intended. Marching out I don't bother shutting it. I slam the door shut. It rattles the house startling the last person I need to see that evening.

Pearl. 

She jumps at the door slamming. My body tenses as my guard rises. She's startled though I’m unable to divine why. Was it because my uncharacteristic lack of restraint? Is it because she, like me, thought the house deserted save herself and is just surprised to see me? I can foresee future events yet hardly ever understand the emotions driving people. 

Her eyes soften when she sees me. "Oh, Garnet, it's just you."

Just you. The words trouble me more than they should. There’s more to me than she knows. Out of us four she is the most literal. She looks to me to be the leader she can readily follow. She expects the most out of me. At the same time she is my strongest alley. She comes to my aid whenever I call. I always understood why Pearl was our leader’s confident. She's experienced, steadfast, and her loyalty is undying. Even when that person is a decade dead.  


"Thought I was alone," I confess. My voice is a monotone. As emotionless as Peridot’s. Of all three Homeworld Gems she troubled me the most. But I can't confess that last part. So many things are running through my head that Pearl can't see. I sit beside her. Though clingy, her mind is so abuzz. It consumes all my attentions when we speak. I could use the distraction. I know she won't make anything of it. In her mind I'm the leader and I can do whatever I damn well please. It wasn't always like this once. Our relationship wasn't always based on “follow the leader.” I was just a Gem like her. So were Ruby and Sapphire. Misfits following the immaculate and benevolent Rose Quartz. Back then things were different between us. I was no better than Amethyst riling her up and snickering at her scolding eyes when they looked at me. But those days died the summer Rose left us.

The moon is full and shines down on us with Sol’s light. The stars overhead twinkle. There's not as many as their used to be. Stars were more plentiful before modern technology and all its electronics crushed Pearl's dreamless nights. Humanity's advancements put a stop to her precious stargazing.

"So where is Steven?" asks Pearl. Her tone is uneasy. She seems hesitant.  


“Out,” I saw, as if that can explain everything. At one time Amethyst told me Steven seems to think I’m a Gem who won’t say anything but still expects my few words to speak volumes. To an extant he’s right. This silence belonged to Sapphire before me. Her instructor on Homeworld taught her to keep calm and serene no matter the situation. Serenity was an important part of her job description.

Unlike humans Gems don’t choose or fall into their professions. We’re not born to continue the species. We’re created for a specific purpose and no other reason. Where Garnet lives to do battle Sapphire exists to sing. Her purposes for singing originally less than… pure. Steven said he enjoys her singing. Besides Ruby no one has ever said that to her. 

“Well, out where?” I’m pulled from my thoughts by Pearl. She appears patient except I've known her long enough to tell apart her false expression from her true ones. I see the temper flicking behind her sky-blue eyes. If we Gems aged like humans I wonder if she’d have “crow’s feet.” She makes the expression enough I can the permanent effects it’d have on her skin. But Gems are “ageless.” We look neither young nor old. Our constructs never wither or break. Our skin lacks the soft and smooth features of youth. The only Gem that was ever an exception to this rule was Amethyst. She is the exception to many things in Gem culture. Not surprising as her first hundred years hadn’t started with us. 

“At the Big Donut shop,” I answer.

Pearl sighs. “I take it Amethyst is there too?”

“They’re celebrating the Homeworlders’ defeat. Sadie said everything’s on the house.”  


"On the house?” Pearl’s face twisted in bewilderment and disgust. “They’re eating on the roof? Is that even sanitary?” Trust Pearl to be too literal for her own good and others’ food.  


I shrug in response. “Don’t know.” The lie rolls easily off my tongue. I know what the saying means. Food’s for free. I don’t feel like explaining it to Pearl. Call me cruel but you explain one thing and sometimes it turns into a whirlwind of a conversation with her. I want a distraction from my earlier turmoil but one that brings me peace. For me, sometimes conversations are wars. To this day I haven’t met someone who battles with the passion quite like Pearl does. My worries and cares have already been spent for the day.

She notices I’m not answering. Her expression falls. I feel a flash of remorse in me that's not my own. It’s Sapphire. She’s always had a soft spot for Pearl. Maybe because she sees a little of herself in the white Gem.

I mentioned earlier that my silence comes from Sapphire’s. Her life before she joined Rose's forces and met Ruby were less than kind. It’s why she sympathizes with Pearl. When Jasper had called her “a lost, defected Pearl.” It’s not unlike the Homeworlder’s taunts of my halves being “small and weak.” 

“Why aren’t you with them?” she asks, her tone quiet. She fidgets, uncomfortable. I get the feeling she’s tiptoeing around something. My head throbs. The prelude to visions come in the form of headaches. We’re going to have an important conversation any moment now. Otherwise why ask this question? She knows I don’t socialize with humans. Large groups make my visions go haywire. So many people and so many endless possibilities. I want a distraction. I want peace from this tangle of uncertainties I’ve been dealt. 

“I could ask the same of you.”

She blushes. My comment seems to have put her off. “Maybe I would have if they'd invited me.”

“Only you weren’t,” I tell her. “Because you were off somewhere else.” Like me. Steven calls me mysterious when I merely spend my time brooding like some pathetic child. 

She clasps her fingers together. She rings them like Steven does when he’s in trouble. I wonder if she’s ever noticed how many of her mannerism he's picked up over the years. “I went the Black Temple today.”

I jolt up. We Gems are never effected by temperatures but something in me goes cold. I stare at her in shock. “You-”

“I was careful, Garnet,” she says, her voice fierce. “Don’t think for a second I wasn't.”

“Then why on earth would you go in there?” I demand. I’m furious. I feel a fire burning in me. Hotter than the sun. It's almost surreal yelling at her like this. She's the most dependable Gem I know. It's always been Steven or Amethyst breaking my silence. Especially Steven. When he disobeys or hurts himself. But I'm never that angry at him. The rage is at myself. That I couldn't be a better guide or protector for him. That I'm not the pillar Rose said I needed to be.

“Because both you and I know what it means,” Pearl all but screams. Her outburst takes me by surprise. I didn't realize she was this upset. I can’t lose my cool or this could escalate to a place neither of us wants. Sapphire’s serenity keeps me calm despite Ruby threatening to erupt. 

"Fine," I answer. My voice is harder than my heart feels. "That still doesn’t explain what you were doing there. You know Rose forbade us to enter that place.”

She buries her face in her hands “When we found Peridot’s escape pod you said she had a lot of nerve hiding on Earth. Well that’s not entirely... accurate.”

All three of my eyes on focus on Pearl. The gift of foresight has allowed me to witness many things. Events that would never take place. Histories waiting to come alive. Cycles of prophecies occurring once, twice, and thrice. It allowed me experience a road less traveled. But I’m never prepared me for everything. 

“What do you mean?”

Pearl flinches as if I'd struck her. “I don’t know if I should be the one telling you this,” she begins. “I always thought Rose would except she’s not here now. I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter anymore but after Homeworld sent Jasper of all Gems-”

“Pearl,” I say in a strained voice. My patience wearing thin. “Just tell me.”

She looks up. At first I think she’s staring at me. It takes me a moment to realize she isn’t. She’s looking at something in the sky behind me. I twist my head to see Mani, the singular moon of Earth. It gleams whole and bright above a tranquil ocean. 

“Rose Quartz told us the Black Temple was the Homeworld’s domestic base on Earth. That was true. However it served another purpose… once.” She unfolds her hands to rest them on her thighs. Pearl lowers her head. She looks tired and defeated, more so than I. “Its origins date back to our earliest histories. This all happened before my time.

"There were Gems here before us. What our histories call Fate’s Rebellion had scattered our species across the star-paths of infinite space. We’d just broken free of the Ancestral Firstborns’ tyranny with nothing to call our own. No planet, no civilization, and no technology to call our own. That’s when the search for a new home began. Our kind traveled from world to world by locking their gem pieces inside the cores of meteors. They were in stasis usually the entire time their vessels hurtled through space.”

“That’s impossible,” I tell Pearl. “That kind of travel would take millennia to accomplish. There’s no way a Gem could last that long.”

The white Gem rolls her eyes. “Which is why they were put in stasis, Garnet. It’s not unlike the corrupted monsters we keep bubbled in the temple. A Gem can remain unchanging for centuries if she lays dormant long enough. It’s just the lifestyles we currently live don’t require long periods of stasis. Honestly, the things you and Amethyst forget you’re capable of.” 

I snicker. It amuses me to ruffle Pearl’s feathers, so to speak. It used to be a game between me and Amethyst. One we don’t play often enough anymore. 

“We don’t know whether they crash landed on Earth by accident or not. Despite the planet being occupied by its own living creatures the two didn't see a problem using the planet as a temporary retreat. They built the Black Temple to serve as a shelter for wayward Gems. It didn't matter what dynasty or faction you belonged to. They welcomed Gems from all walks of life. In time others joined their ranks and they formed a sisterhood of sorts. Many Gems injured and crippled came here for healing or to spend their dying days here in peace. The sisterhood cared for them and if they died in the sisters' care Sunstone and Moonstone would bury them according to the customs of early humans.”

Something flashes before my mind's eye, noble avengers and warriors of valor. "I know them," I speak aloud. "The Nine Choosers of the Slain." 

She nods her head yet still won't meet my eyes. "Yes. Rose knew them well."

My mind was reeling. "Ruby heard talk of them back on Homeworld. Amongst the Outer Forces their heroics were legendary. I thought they just propaganda the Elder Gems invented for Kindergarten Youngsters."

"They were real. Sunstone and Moonstone are among our most famous heroes. The seven that followed them were less renowned and only appear in a third of their stories. Oddly, that third are the most popular stories. The Nine Choosers of the Slain serve as reminders that heroes can rise even in the darkest moments… and that even the most virtuous of paragons can fall."  


“Fall?” I, neither as Ruby or Sapphire, had heard of any Chooser falling. Ruby hadn’t given them much thought. She’d cynically dismissed them as glorifications of stronger Gems. Sapphire, on the other hand, considered their stories to have a kernel of truth. Their exploits could be true but that the Nine themselves were merely fictitious characters invented to group many isolated incidents and stories into an overarching narrative. 

"It’s not knowledge that is explicitly hidden. Our kind just prefers to ignore the real story. Homeworld had decided leaving Gems to remain on planets with a fast evolving sentient species was too much of a risk. They feared humanity might one day discover a way to reverse-engineer our tech. They sent the God Soldiers to retrieve the Nine Choosers of the Slain and the artifacts of our culture. The Nine revolted. For the first time in our histories Gem turned against Gem." Pearl shudders. She wraps her arms around herself as if trying to keep warm against a coldness she shouldn't feel. "The historical records report the Nine had been corrupted and the God Soldiers had no choice but to put them down. Rose never believed the reports. Yet she only learned after she decided to fight for Earth. 

"After our forces abandoned Homeworld, Rose decreed the Black Temple would remain a sanctuary. Enemy Gems could seek shelter there and Rose wouldn't allow us to harm them. Homeworld wasn't so honorable. Not long into the war they started using it for their own nefarious purposes. I was told the God Soldiers had rebuilt the Black Temple into their domestic base. As the war grew more violent our own forces sought refuge at the Black Temple. They didn't care about life on Earth or betraying us. But Rose didn't change her mind about attacking them. Instead she had her most trusted advisers spread rumors Black Temple. That it had never been a sanctuary. Just a trap to lure homesick Gems back to their side. That once you entered the Black Temple the structure itself would assault and kill you.  


Pearl looks to the moon again. Her skin shines diamond white beneath its light. Her pale hair gleams like precious platinum. Her eyes are misty. She seems on the verge of crying. I don’t understand why. Is it the Nine’s tragic end? Is it what became of their legacy? Or is she thinking about Rose and the decisions she made? The Rose’s Rebellion took tolls on all of us. Yet Pearl always seemed the least bothered by her choices. So long as it benefited Rose, she endured. 

Except Rose is gone now. We can only guess her choices. Despite Steven being his mother’s son he takes actions I could never envision Rose committing. 

"Garnet, I know what I did was reckless.” She buries her face in her right hand. I thought… if Peridot was so desperate she fled to Earth maybe she knew of the Black Temple’s history. It seemed the first logical place to search.”

I clench a fist. “Did you find her?”

Pearl shakes her head. “No. At least that’s what I thought.” 

“You thought?” My head starts to throb. I see images flicker around Pearl's head. I brace myself as the visions assault me. I see her shaken and afraid. I see her pain. A pain so deep it turns Rose’s deceptions into white lies. Like someone had taken all the beauty Pearl had seen in the world and ground it to dust. 

"Garnet…” Pearl begins. “Please understand I wanted to tell you sooner but I didn’t know how. Steven can’t know about this. Neither can Amethyst. We can’t trust either of them not to act recklessly.” There is a pregnant paused. I know what she’s going to say before the words slip from her lips. “And please can’t let Ruby overwhelm you.” 

She asks me a simple request. However if Pearl had wanted to keep the red Gem calm it’d been better if she kept her mouth Shut. I feel Sapphire reaching for Ruby. I feel a churn of emotions as they speak. Sapphire tries soothing Ruby by whispering Pearl didn’t understand. She simply sees Garnet as a single being. It’s why she thinks the fusion works so well. Let her think that. 

You’d probably right, Ruby thinks. Her voice is so load I hear her over my own thoughts. If we explained it to her she’d have a million questions that aren’t her business. 

The two disappear when Pearl takes my face in her hands. Her touch is impossibly gentle. Her forehead bumps against mine. The contact is feather light. An exploration of images flashes before my mind's eye. I see as Pearl did as the both of us interface. The interface is an extension of her holographic capabilities coupled with my future vision. It’s a unique experience only the two of us share.

I’m in the Strawberry Fields. The landscape flashes by at a speed I know Pearl’s two feet could never carry her at. It takes me a moment to realize what is going on. Pearl has shape-shifted. Before we’d established a network of warp pads on Earth the Crystal Gems shape-shifted into Earth animals to cross the globe. Amethyst liked to take the form of a puma. I took the shape of a horse. But Pearl had always flown on the wings of an eagle. 

The wind ripped through her feathers as she flies at breakneck speed. Her sharpened visions takes in her surroundings. A small mouse over two dozen feet below nibbles on a strawberry. Pearl had to fight her beast mode’s instincts to sweep down and gobble up the vermin. I sense her revulsion through the memories. She’s never been comfortable with the foreign desires of the alien bodies we’ve been forced to take over the years.

After a quick flight her keen eyes lock on her destination. She dips her wings and starts spiraling downwards. As she reaches the ground her entire body is engulfed in light. When she lands she’s changed back into the slim figured ballerina I’m more familiar too. 

“Finally,” she grumbles. “I don’t know how Amethyst could stand all those years as an owl.” The pearl crowning her forehead begins to glow. Tilting her head to the stars she clenches a fist above her cranium. Like the fabled legend of the sword in the stone Pearl withdraws her weapon. The spear bears a single-edged blade coated in mother-of-pearl. At the moment it is a short-staffed weapon. Should Pearl need to she can increases both its length and density at will. The spear was nicknamed Star Showers, marking the weapon as hers and hers alone.  


"Now where is it? I could have sworn it was around here somewhere. Buried underneath the Sleeping Pyramid which acts as a decoy.” I watch as she thrusts her spear as a tangle of blackthorn shrubs. For some particular reason this seems to bother her. “That’s odd. This plant isn’t native to this area.” Star Showers illuminates in the moonlight as it grows into a full-length spear. Pearl attacks the bush and begins to create a clearing. Once the growth is gone she hits the dirt with the butt of her weapon. There is no soft thud but a hollow echo. 

She’s found it. The door to the Black Temple. The door is a slab of luminescent laborite. I’ve never seen the place myself. From Pearl’s behavior she’s been there before. I can’t keep my thoughts from straying. Did Rose show her? A part of me wants to know but I feel a gentle firmness telling me no. After all, we all have our secrets. 

Pearl kneels down to sweep away patches of dirt. The surface is polished and smooth. To my surprise it’s not the triad of three triangles engraved on the surface. It is a sixteen pointed-star of azure gems encircled by a ring of blood-red stones. Two crescent rest vertically on either side of the red ring, their openings facing opposite directions. The right crescent is emerald green and the left is a diamond of dubious colors. 

“That’s odd,” mutters a bewildered Pearl. “This symbol predates the Great Wars.” She says no more on the subject. She hits the sapphire star with the dull edge of her blade. The black slab starts sinking into the ground much like the elevator at the Kindergarten had. Pearl jumps onto the slab as it begins sinking down deeper underground. Her hands tighten around Star Showers. “You can do this,” she whispers, “for Steven.” 

She’s transported to the ground floor. She steps forward cautiously. As her eyes slowly take in the temple’s surroundings the view enlarges. The picture bobs up and down as she stalks onward. The interior is much like the Sleeping Pyramid’s. The walls are crafted from polished back stone. Triangular glyphs of a long dead language decorate the walls. She’s in a hallway that stands twenty feet high. It continues onwards leading to a triangular doorway. Everything is dark and still. 

“Well, nothing out of the ordinary yet-” Pearl is cut off when a lime green light flashes through the triangular door frame. “Peridot!” she yelled. She raises Star Shower over her shoulder and charges forward. Jumping into the room the view spins widely. It lands on a warp pap. Half a dozen broken flask robonoids surround a cracked crystalline disk. 

So close! Pearl had been less than a hundred feet from Peridot. That monster has escaped us a third time. How much longer before we catch her? What wrath from Homeworld will she bring down on us? My rage almost pulls me out of the memory but the show continues.  


A blue light flickers out of the corner of Pearl’s vision. Her body twirls. In front of her is a massive computer screen. A blue picture flickers to life then dies, too quickly to see its contents. It does this again and again. Each time the image disappears too fast or everything’s a blue and green blur. Finally after several long agonizing minutes it stabilizes. 

I recognize it as live footage. How the camera captures her image I can’t fathom nor feel it matters. All I know is that I, though Pearl’s eyes, behold the fate of Malachite at the bottom of the ocean. Watery bindings chain her to the seabed. She struggles against her bonds. Her body twists like an injured animal’s. Her mouth is agape and forms soundless words. I can’t read her lips to know what she’s saying. Yet I don’t need too. Subtitles in the ancient Gem language flicker across the computer screen. 

Malachite: Peridot! What took you so bloody long?

I can feel an echo of Pearl’s past-thoughts in the memory, shocked and horrified. Peridot is nowhere in sight. There’s no possible way she can be at the ocean floor. A warp pad was never built there. Instead Pearl assumes that somehow Malachite knows Peridot had found her and was still watching her from inside the Black Temple! 

The highest pair of Malachite's four eyes shift upwards. The last time I'd seen that happen the Jasper half of Malachite had been in control. Indeed, the words sounded more like something the yellow Gem might say. Then for a moment Malachite ceases her struggling. Her eyes lose focus as her attention is redirected inwards. It lasts for a split second. The lowest set of eyes widen in horror. That’s Lapis Lazuli’s expression!

Malachite: Peridot! Don't trust her. She'll kill you. She blames you for stranding her on this planet. I can see into her mind! No one will spare you. Go to the Crystal Gems. Warn them about Jasper. I can't control you much-SHUT UP YOU BRAT.

The view shakes as Pearl stumbles back, startled. Malachite is clawing at her own face. Finally we hear Malachite’s voice. No, it’s not Malachite, the White Gem realizes. It’s the Lapis Lazuli gem. Only her voice could piece the ocean’s depths. A wail of loss, terrible grief and utter humiliation that makes the sanctuary of the Black Temple quake. Two of Malachite’s monstrous hands reach behind her back and I know she means to break the gem of the ocean soul. 

That's when I see it. A golden ray of light jets through the waters like a harpoon. It hits Malachite. Her ley-lines flare in blocky patterns across her body. She convulses and withers like a dying animal. Her body starts to radiate with a sickening green light. The chains binding her burst. Her body is consumed in a blinding flash but before she disappears completely I see her face one last time. She looks at the screen, right at Pearl it seems, with an awful and twisted expression of hate and pain. 

When the light vanishes two gem pieces fall to the sea floor. I have no idea what's happening until Pearl gets a good look at whatever hurt them. It's a Gem De-Stabilizer. I watch as a new figure appears on screen. It’s humanoid with bulky arms and legs. Its skin glows a greenish-yellow in the dim and bent light at the ocean’s floor.  


Peridot. She’s swimming awkwardly through the water towards the two dormant Gems. She plants her feet on the ground and tries to wobble along, her movements awkward. The Gem De-Stabilizer’s blade is seethed in the sands. It sticks upright like a cross-shaped tombstone ravaged by time. She picks up a tear-shaped gem piece with her thumb and index finger. She quickly bubbles it. She holds it in her left hand and examines. The expression on her face. I've felt the ice-cold temperatures of space. I had thought nothing in the universe could be so cold. But the look on Peridot’s face leaves me frozen. She grabs the Gem De-stabilizer and yanks it from the sands. 

Lifting the blade over the life in her hands, she reminds me of times I’d see Rose cook for Greg. Where Rose lovingly prepared food for her paramour, dicing vegetables and slicing meat, Peridot is the stone-hearted butcher. I watch in horror as the De-Stabilizer falls like a guillotine’s blade. It sails past the bubbled Gem and strikes at yellow rock. 

Peridot loses her composure. Her movements grow more erratic as she tries to break Jasper’s gem piece. I caught glimpses of her face. A fury tinged by madness drives her violent stabs. She clutches Lapis Lazuli’s gem piece to her chest. The blue stone pulses with faint blue light as Peridot’s labors slow. The glow brightens and captures the Homeworlder’s full attentions. She drops the De-Stabilizer. It falls to the seafloor. Clouds of sand rise on impact and bury the blade. Yet Peridot seems to have forgotten all about the De-Stabilizer. She un-bubbles the gem piece and cups with her detached fingers. She cradles Lapis like she is the most precious and fragile thing in the universe. 

Subtitles appear on the screen. 

Peridot: Lapis? 

Lapis Lazuli emerges from her gem piece. She’s ribbons of light wrap around her body. Her clothing is different now. Where once she wore a one piece dress yet like what happens in all reconstructions it has changed. Like before, her top is a sleeveless and backless shirt. The fabric is held up by a v-shaped collar that reveals the curve of her small breasts. It lacks the black triangle. Her blue wrap hugs at her hips. She stares at Peridot with wide and incredulous eyes.  


Lapis: You came back.  


Peridot’s knees give way. Her legs fold underneath her as she collapses. She is motionless. It’s as if she were a marionette whose strings had been cut and then left abandoned on the stage. Lapis rushes to the green Gem’s side. 

Lapis: Perry!

I’m taken aback by the informal use of the Homeworlder’s name. Peridot does not respond to Lapis at first. Dumbstruck, her gaze never leaves the fractured gem resting a foot away from her. “We can’t go home. I can’t… I won’t be able to leave this planet.”

Lapis shakes her head. She’s tugging at Peridot’s upper arm. “Perry, we have to go. I don’t want to be here anymore. Please, can we just leave?” 

This jerks the Homworlder from her trace. Dimly she nods her head. Lapis’ gem piece starts to glow as she shape-shifts into the body of a seal. She stretches out her right fin for Peridot. The other Gem takes. She clutches at the fin so tightly like it’s some kind of life line. Soon the two swim out of sight. They’re gone.

All I hear now is Pearl’s frantic breathing. She turns away from the screen instead turning to face a room dark and empty. "She's free.” 

The interface breaks. 

When I come to I can feel myself shaking in anger. Almost of their own accord my hands grab hold of Pearl. Fury boils like lava in me. I don’t even feel in control of my own body as I slam my friend against a wall. Pearl looks up at me with wide, startled eyes. "She's free?” I yell. “Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

“Garnet!” she cries, voice torn and hurt. “Look, I'm telling you now. After Lapis-”

“I don't care about either Lapis or Peridot! What if Jasper’s regenerated by now? She could have contacted Homeworld! The Spacer Fleets and God Soldiers could be on their way as we speak!”

Pearl snaps out of her confusion. I feel her muscles move beneath my hands as she tenses and resists my hold. “You’re worried about Jasper? Didn’t you see her Gem? It’s fractured! If she returns she’ll be an incoherent monster. We need to worry about is Peridot and Lapis. In case you forgot Lapis Lazuli overwhelmed the three of us last time despite her injuries! What if she and Peridot want revenge? What if they decide taking us out will put them back in Homeworld’s good graces?” 

Pearl shoves me off of her with surprising strength. She crosses her arms and refuses to meet my eyes. She looks more in-dignified and annoyed than outright angry. This kind of reaction is normally reserved for Amethyst. It’s petty.  


“So you’re telling me to don’t think a homicidal Homeworld loyalist is a problem?” I demand. “Pearl, this is the safety of the Earth we're talking about."

"You don't think I know that!?" Pearl's eyes flare. She hasn't shouted at me like this since the confrontation over Rose's scabbard. "You don’t think I’m taking this seriously? Why else do you think I went back to that awful, awful place looking for Peridot after all that’s happened there?"

I want to say something. Or I feel I should say something but can’t. There aren’t any words. Pearl stares at me in confusion like she can’t believe in what she said. She slowly raises a hand to her mouth. I just twist my head away.

We try to keep calm and composed in front of Steven and Amethyst. Our Earthborn sister isn’t much better than Steven at times. There's so much she doesn't understand about the Gem Wars. Amethyst joined us at its end. She’s only heard stories about the war. Yet Pearl and I are all that remain of Earth's first defenders. We aren't flesh and blood. Our skin is merely constructed illusions. We're synthetic life-forms. Yet that war still wounded us. Sometimes I fool myself into thinking I'm made of harder stuff. The last few days have only served to remind me I am not. Five thousand years have passed and time has not healed my heart. 

All I can do for the people that are left is move forward. 

"What the Black Temple was used for is irrelevant,” I tell Pearl. “It hasn't been used by Homeworld in millennia. There's no way they can use it now. We cleaned that of all their technology and equipment ages ago. But if you’re right about Jasper than Peridot and Lapis Lazuli are our priority. Steven can’t know Lapis is free. If he does he’ll try to help her. He already did once.”

“Humph,” pipes Pearl. “Of course I’m right. Might want to keep Amethyst out of the loop as well. After our little Kindergarten skirmish we can't trust her not to do anything reckless against the Homeworld Gems.”

“You can keep whatever you like from Amethyst. As of now you and I alone are on the hunt for Homeworlders.” I slam my fists together summing my gauntlets. Istart marching towards the warp pad. I hear her feet scramble across the deck as she follows me. The others are enjoying a night off but it’s back to business for us. The anxiety I’ve built up all day starts to fade to embers. I’m back where I belong.


End file.
